"Middle of Nowhere" director Ava DuVernay is the well-deserved winnr of Tribeca Film Institute's first Heineken Affinity Award, which gives the African American independent filmmaker $20,000 in cash as well as year-round support from TFI for future projects.

"Middle of Nowhere" director Ava DuVernay is the well-deserved winnr of Tribeca Film Institute's first Heineken Affinity Award, which gives the African American independent filmmaker $20,000 in cash as well as year-round support from TFI for future projects.

DuVernay, 40, gained attention as the first African American woman to win Best Director at Sundance in 2012 for "Middle of Nowhere," the prison drama which later nabbed the Independent Spirit John Cassevetes Award. Based in LA, DuVernay is currently working a project called "Part of the Sky," which will benefit from TFI's award. Read some of TOH's coverage on DuVernay here.

With the Tribeca Film Festival still underway, the Institute also announced winners of the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund as well as the TFI/WorldView Partnership grants at a celebration for Latin American filmmakers. Recipients of the Partnership grants are Michelle Serieux, Sergio Estrada and Anabel Rodriguez Rios.

Bloomberg in New York City has offered endowment support for emerging talent in the way of summer workshops in Mexico and South America. 2013 Bloomberg Fellows are directors Maite Alberdi Soto, Marilia Rocha and Hector Barrios.